Island



N PETERS. PKOTQLITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D4 C4 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

BROVN S. VOOD, OF BURRILLVILLE, RHODE ISLAND.

iMPROVElVIENT iN KNlTTlNG-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,998, dated June1854.

T0 all whom it 71mg/ concern,.-

Be it known that I, BROWN S. \VooD, of Burrillville, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Knitting- Machines; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspcciiication,in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machineconstructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse verticalsection of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same, with the frame whichcarries the slur, jacks, and thread-carrier removed to show thearrangement of the needles and the manner of forming the loops. Fig. 4is a plan of the frame which carries the'slur, jacks, andthread-carrier. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the above frame takenthrough the curve in the slur and passing through the thread-carrier.Figs. 6 and 7 are two transverse sections of the needle-bars, showingdifferent positions occupied by the needles relatively to each otherduring the operation of the machine. Fig. S is a plan View showing themanner in which the loops are formed by the sinkers before being takenhold of by the needles. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the slur, intended toshow its operation.

Fig. 10 is a front view of the frontneedle-bar and the frame in which itworks. Figs. Il and 12 are side views of the sinkers.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts in theseveral figures.

The improvements which constitute my present invention have all fortheir object the knitting of ribbed goods by power.

My first improvement consists in a certain arrangement of wide andnarrow jacks for the purpose of forming a row ot long and short loops,which they lay in proper positions to he caught by the needles, the longloops by the set of Aneedles generally known as the rib-needles, and theshort loops by the other set of needles, and drawn through similar loopspreviously formed in the same manner.

My second improvement consists in operating the jacks by means of adouble slur, Vto

which the heads of the jacks are so itted` that the narrow jacks areoperated upon in advance of their regular turn, in order to prevent thewide jacks in advance of them from taking up the thread necessary toform the narrow loops, and thus preventing the proper formation of theloops and breakage of the thread.

My third improvement relates to the relative arrangement and movementsof the two sets of needles for the purpose of forming and seizing theloops and drawing each row through the preceding one.

My fourth improvement relates to the arrangement of the rib-needles. incombination with a creased presser, by the pressure of which theyrequire to be sprung into the proper position to enter the loops formedby the jacks to receive them, the said arrangement of the needles beingsuch that after they have entered the loops and the pressure of thepresser is removed they will spring back and draw the loop tight aroundthem, so that on their descent or retiringmotion from the loops thelatter will not fail to pass under their points and into their hooks.

My fifth improvement consists in supporting the head which carries thejacks, the slur,

and the thread-carrier in a frame which is capable of being swung out ofits operative position to allow the quarter to be run on the machine andthe needles to be adjusted conveniently7 the said capability of swingingalso serving for the adjustment of the jacks for regulating the depth ofthe loops.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A A are two standards united by struts B B to form the main framing ofthe machine.

C C G is an upright frame composed of two upright side pieces and across-piece and having the side pieces C C bolted firmly to the innersides of the standards. This frame is for the purpose of carrying theupright clothplate E and the needle-bar D, which carries the set ofneedles c c, which, to distinguish them from the other set known asrib-needies, are sometimes called the frame-needles. The needle-bar D isof the form repmotion of the needle-bar.

dles e c. boxes a a, working on guide-rods Zi b, and is e idees are ofthe usual construction,and are secured to the needlebar in the usualmanner, standing nearly close to and in a row parallel with thecloth-plate E.

C' C G is another frame precisely similar to C C G,but instead of being,like the latter, secured rigidly to the standards A A has its sidepieces pivoted to the standards at their lower ends,'so that the upperpart is capable of swinging to a certain extent. One of the pivots onwhich it swings is represented by a dotted circle d in Fig. l. Thisframe C C' G carries the other cloth-plate E and also the otherneedle-bar D', which carries the rib-nee- This needle-bar is furnishedwith otherwise similar to the other needle-bar D, and the needles c care similar to c c. The cloth-plate E and the row of needles c c areparallel longitudinally with the other clothplate and row of needles.The frame C C Gr occupies a nearly vertical position, from which itdeviates but slightly, as the swinging movement which the needles andclothplate are required to make is a very slight one. It is connected byaspring F (shown in Fig. l) with one of the standards A. The effect ofthis spring is to pull the cloth-plate E and needles c" c as near to theother clothplate and needles as is allowed by the two stop-pieces c e,placed between the two clothplates. I

Between the fixed frame C C G and the swinging frame C' C G is placed ahorizontal shaft J, which extends the whole length of the machine, beingsupported in bearings attached to the standards A A. This shaft J has ana'frm 7c attached to it near one end and resting upon a cam v7' on theend of the slurshaft K, and once during every ,revolution of theslur-shafts-that is to say, when the prominent portion of the cam passesit-this arm is raised so as to turn the shaft .l a little way and bringtwo studs i, which are fast'upon it, into contact with the side pieces cc of the frame C C G', and thus force back the said frame to increasethe distance between the two cloth-plates and sets of needles; but afterthe prominent part of the cam passes it the arm la falls by its ownweight and removes the studsi' from contact with-the frame, which isthen returned by the spring F. The object of this swinging movement ofthe clothplate E 'and needles c c will be understood when the operationof knitting' is described. The two needle-bars have movements upwardand-downward, produced by two cams on the main shaft H. One of thesecams only is shown in the drawings, (see I, Fig. 2,)--viz., that onewhich operates the front needle-bar E-and I have not thought itnecessary todescribe the form of either, as when the operation of themachine s'nallhave been hereinafter described and the necessarymovements explained the cams may be constructed by any mechanic ofordinary skill. The cams support the needle-bars and act each upon itsrespective needle-bar through a friction-roller fon a stud at one sideof an arm g, attached to an upright rod 72 which forms a part of or issecured to the needle-bar. The rod 7L also serves as a guide for thecorrect motion of the needle-bars by working in a hole in the lower partof the main framing.

L is the head which carries the jacks, .the slur, and thethread-carrier, which lis not inaterially different from thecorresponding head in other knitting-machines, excepting that instead ofbeing rigidly attached to the main framing, as :is usual, it is attachedto a frame M, which is supported in the slur-shaft K, so as to becapable of swinging freely thereon to be thrown back, as shown in redoutline in Fig. l, for the purpose of leaving the needles exposed foradjustment and for affording facility to run on the quarter or repairany damage to the web. When the head L is in posi- .tion for operation,it is supported onlyin part by the frame M, two front supporters N Nbeing provided, attached one to each standard A. The head is thus alwaysfirm when in operation. Vhen the head is swung back to the positionshown in red outline, it is arrested bya chain O, attached to one of thestandards in such a position that it can be readily returned to itsoperative position. lt will be readily understood that if the positionof the front supports N N be' changed to 'one a little more backward orforward the head will be prevented coming so far or be allowed to comefarther forward, and thus the jacks may be set back or forward toincrease or diminish the length of the loops. The moving of the jacksback or forward for this purpose is commonly practiced, and is onlydescribed here to show that placing the head L in a swinging frameaffords proper facility for this adjustment. Thejacks P P all swing uponthe same pin m, which extends right through the'head L. Their form isshown in Figs. l, 2, and 5, where it will be found that all are notalike, for that party which operates upon the thread and which may betermed the tongue, is made narrow in some and wide in others. that theymay sink a series of long and short loops, such as is represented in redcolor in Fig. 8, between the needles c c.

The arrangement of needles and the order of succession of the long andshort jacks will require to vary accord-ing to the pattern of theribbing to be produced. The arrangement of needles and jacks shown is to-produce a web in which two loops are visible on one side and one on theother side regularly all across, and for that pattern the needles c cand c c are arranged, the former in pairs,

with the distance between the pairs equal to twice the distance betweenthe two needles of each pair, and the latter singly opposite the centersof the spaces between the pairs-of the former, as shown in Figs. 3 and8. This arrangement of needles requires two wideton gued jacks to fallbetween two pairs of The object of this is logies e needles c c, and onenarrow-tongued one between the two needles ot each pair. This isillustrated in Fig. S, where sections of the tongues of the severaljacks are represented each by'a strong black line and the thread isrepresented in red color. The jacks form two short loops round everypair ofthe needles c c, and carry one long loop between every two pairsto be caught at the proper time by the needles c o; The long loop whichis carried back is held open by reason of its being extended round twojacks, and thusis, ready to receive the needle c Vwhen the latter issprung forward at the proper time. The jacksall have their heads, or thepart which is operated upon by the slur, of similar form, except thatthe wide-tongued jacks P P have a recess n. made in their back edgesextending from the top about half-way "down, This is done in order thatthey may receive a motion somewhat diiferent to that of thenarrowtongued ones P P.

In order to produce the necessary difference in the motions of the wideand narrow tongued jacks, the back of the slur is made in two distinctparts, the lower of which ois formed in the bar itself, and the upperlconsists of a loose piece o bolted to the bar. The upper part 0 of theback of the slurl extending as low down as the recesses n in the jacksis shorter than the lower part o. This is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 9,where the lower part is shown in dotted outline and is supposed to bevisible through the upper part, which is shown in bold the line.Thefront of the slur is ofthe same form both in the upper and lowerparts, only being so much beveled off at the bottom as is necessary toallow of the swinging of the jacks. When the slur moves in eitherdirection, the heads of the jacks are thrown back and the tonguesforward by the .front part Q of the slur, and afterward the heads arereturned forward and the tongues backward `to depress the loops betweenthe needles c c by the back part Q. lVhichever way the slurV is movingthe upper part o of the operative side of the slur is in advance of thelower part. This may be understood by reference to Fig. 9, where theslur is supposed to be moving in the direction of the arrow and the side2 is in operation on the jacks, throwing the heads forwardmand thetongues back.` Now if the backs of the heads of the jacks were all likethose of the jacks P P it is obvious that the upper part o of theslurwould alone operate upon them; but as the jacks P P have recesses 'n atthat part where the upper part o of the slur would come in contact, thatpart can only operate upon the jacks P P and the jacks P P are notoperated upon till the lower part o of the slur comes in contact withthem. By this means the jacks P P,.with the narrow tongues, are made tooperate to form theirloops before theirturn would have arrived if thewhole row operated in regular succession.

This lead or advance which is given to the` narrow jacks in order toprevent the widetongued jacks from taking up the thread which isnecessary to form the short loops, which they would otherwise do inconsequence of their greater width,bringin g them rst in contact withthe thread, and then the narrowjacks, instead of forming loops behindthem, would break the thread. actuated in the saine manner as in otherknitting-machines by chains from a wheel R on an upright shaft S, whichreceives ,an intermittent alternate circular motion at regular intervalsby means of bevel-toothed gearing from the slur-shaft K. A

w is the thread-carrier, which is attached to the slur and moves with itin the usual way. It is of well-known form and only differs from otherthread-carriers in having an opening at :n (see Fig. 5) to deliver thethread opposite or perpendicularly to the needles, which prevents itsrolling or kinking. The pressers 13 14 belonging to the two sets ofneedles are similarly arranged, oscillating on two rock-shafts T T,which work in bearings attached to the standards A A, and areactuated atthe proper time to act upon the needles by cams U U', (shown dotted inFigs. l and 2,) acting on treadles' V V', connected by rods p p witharms q q attached to them,`

and are thrown back after the pressing operation by springs yr r.

The creased presser W, which is provided for the purpose of springingthe needles c c forward to bring their points within the long loops,reseniblesin a great measure the other pressers, but has a broader face,in which are a number of creases ss, so arranged that each will receivea needle and form a guide for its upward motion while sprung forward.attached to a horizontal rockeshaft X, working in bearings attached tothe standardsA A. This rock-shaft receives the necessary motion to bringthe presser into operation on the needles through the action of a cam Yon one end of the main shaft outside the framingon a treadle Z, which isconnected by a rod t with an arm it on the rock-shaft, and it is thrownback immediately after operation by a spring @connected with the arm u.

The operation of knitting is performed in the following manner: Afterthe formation of every row of loops both sets of needles are depressedto their lowest position, as shown in Fig. 6. The first movementinforming anew row is the elevation of the needle-bar D and needles c c bythe cam 1 to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 7, in which position theyremain during by far the greater portieri of the time occupied inworking the next row of loops. As soon as the needles c c have risen,the slur and thread-carrier traverse and the thread is laid in front ofand depressed between the needles in the form represented in red colorin Fig. S. After this the needles e c commence to rise, andsimultaneously with the rising of these needles the creased presser XVmoves forward to meet them, which it does The slur is Itis when theyarrive at the position shown in Fig. 2, and then springs them forwarduntil theylreach such a position that they will pass between the pairsof wide jacks and into the long loops formed round them, which theywould not do if not thus sprung back. The upward motion of these needlescontinues with the presser in contact till the needles c c' have movedto about the height represented in black outline in Fig. 7, when thepresser recedes. The needles are kept from moving laterally when sprungby the creases s s in the presser, which serve as guides to them. Afterthe presserleaves them they spring forward to such a position as totighten the loops so much that on the descent of thev needles they willnot slip over them. The needles continue rising until they arrive in aposition corresponding with the front needles c c, when both sets ofneedles suddenly and simultaneously commence their descent, the pressers13 and 14 coming simultaneously into operation upon them and closingtheir barbs. The descent of the needles draws the loops through the rowwhich is supposed to have been previously formed and to have been at thebottom of the needles, the needles c c drawing the short loops in twosthrough similar loops on the front, and the needles c c drawing the longloops singly through similar loops at the back between the front loops.As soon as the needles have descended to the position shown in Fig. 6and drawn the loops through the previous row, the needles c c againcommence to form another row. motions given to the two sets of needlesare simple. The ascent ofthe front needles c c is effected quickly, andthey then remain stationary in their upward position until the propertime for their descent, when they descend quickly. The ascent of theback needles is also effected quickly, and is followed immediately bytheir rapid descent, after which they remain stationary in their lowestposition until after the operation of the jacks. Just before the needlesc c have reached their greatest elevation the cam j comes into operationand turns the rock-shaft J so as to throw the studs t' against the frameC C Gr and force it back to separate the ncedles farther from each otherand pull the loops together. This cam keeps the needles forced away fromeach other during the whole of their descent, so that the loops are kepttight and prevented slipping over the points of the needles.

By different arrangement of needles different patterns of ribbing may bemade. For instance, by arranging the needles c c in Thev threes insteadof in twos and employing two narrow jacks, three loops will be formed onone side and one ou the other alternately.

Other variations in the pattern may also be made which it is notnecessary to describe, but which would suggest themselves to any personpractically acquainted with knitting.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire frame-needles, substantially asherein de-v scribed.

2. The method of givin g a lead or advanced motion to the narrow jacks PP by means of the double slur O O', having one part wider than theother, and the recess n made in the heads of the wide jacks to preventtheir being operated upon until the wide part of the slur comes incontact with them and allow only the narrow jacks to be operated upon bythe narrow part, substantially as herein set forth.

3. The movements of the two sets of needles relatively to each other, asdescribed-that is to say, the front needles c c, rising irst and thenremaining stationary to receive the loops upon and between them, therib-needles being in the meantime stationary, but rising after the loopsare formed and entering the loops intended for them, and then both setsof needles descending together to carry the loops through thosepreviously formed.

4. Arranging the rib-needles c o at such a distance from the frontneedles c c that their upward motion will not carry them through theloops, and springing their ends forward to the requisite position forthat purpose by means of a presser W, constructed, arranged, andoperated substantially as herein 'described, for the purpose set forth.

5. Attaching thehead Q, which carries the jacks, the slur, vand thethread-carrier, to a frame M, which is capable of swinging back,substantially as described, to expose the needles and afford greaterfacility for their adjustment for the running on of the quarter and forthe repair of any damage to the machine or to the web.

BROWN S. WOOD. Vitnesses:

WHIPPLE WALLING, JOHN WALLING, Jr.

